Mind mapping is the process of creating a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central keyword or idea. I have created a mindmap of Linux to get a visual idea of the number of Linux distributions out there and their relationships with each other. There are umpteen GNU/Linux distributions and then some more. Many claim their roots in Debian and others in Red Hat. Still others swear that they are unique and were created from grounds up. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a picture which gave a broad idea of the roots of each GNU/Linux distributions? Well look no further. Here is a mind map of almost all GNU/Linux distributions (atleast the mainstream ones). Though there is a good chance that I could have missed some. The mind map below shows the relations between different GNU/Linux distributions.

Fig: Mind map of GNU/Linux distributions and their relations.(Click on the mind map to enlarge)

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Very nice, thanks for this, will be useful in explaining to people where it all fits in. I wonder should you add a section for mainly server oriented distros? Slamp for instance? Maybe add Zenwalk under slackware small ones? And what about the wonderfully eccentric elive under Debian? It might be also worth adding the BSD tree - there are not a lot of them, so as to fit in PCBSD and Desktop BSD

But I'm sure everyone will have their own additions - the main thing is how useful it is to have one pre-done.

Missing some connections. DSL is based on Debian, and should link from there. Similarly Slax from Slackware. And SuSE and Mandriva both share some origins with Red Hat (RPM-based), so there should be some link there.

And I don't see GoboLinux--that's sufficiently different from the others to be worth mentioning, I think.

Nice diagram - something like this is long time a coming. However I wonder if the diagram could be better organised. I would have draw it as a dendrogram (example). In fact if one built a matrix of shared properties, one could stick it into an app like clustalw and it would resolve the tree of relationships for you. The outputs could then be stuck into a program like TreeView to render the tree as a graphic.

Very nice diagram you did. DistroWatch has a database like information on how “independent” is a determined distro, but having this information visually like on this diagram you made is much nicer. But I have some comments regarding to it.—You should point out that Mandriva was once derived from Red Hat, but through it's evolution it changed so much that could be now considered an independent distro.—nUbuntu is not a distro anymore. Canonical asked them to terminate it's distro, because it could affect their reputation. Read about it at: http://digg.com/linux_unix/Canonical_has_asked_for_nUbuntu_to_Cease_Develop—Linspire was based on Debian, although I'm not sure from which branch of it (I think it was the testing one).

OK, as a current generation map it looks fairly good, though Linspire is a Debian derivative, as is Xandros (which I didn't see on your map, but I may have missed it). What it lacks is the historical perspective. Historically, SuSE is a Slackware derivative and Madriva is a Red Hat derivative.

I thought Linspire was based on Debian. I know when I used it a couple years ago I could use apt-get to install software, as an alternative to their click-n-run warehouse. But maybe they've just changed so much since then that they don't resemble Debian at all now...

@lawrenceI could link multiple nodes together like slax getting linked from small linux distributions and also from slackware. But it might clutter the map. So I chose to list them seperately.

@carlosCarlos, you are right. Mandriva was once derived from redhat. But as I said earlier I have to figure out how to cram all this info without cluttering the map. My main aim was to make sure the end result was not cluttered that no one could make sense of it.I heard that the link you provided on nUbuntu was an april fools joke :). AFAIK, nUbuntu is alive and kicking.

@jamesI have included Xandros as a debian derivative.

@deanYou are right on Linspire. But hasn't the project evolved so much that there is little semblance with the original Debian ? That is why I listed it seperately. So also with Mandriva and SuSE.

Another organizition trick for the specialty distros (security, small size) might be to link the distro from it's parent but "tag" them. So for example, Auditor would link off of Knoppix, but would be tagged "security". You could also color-code based on tags. (I friend of mine is red/green colorblind, though, so he'd hate that I said that :)

Kororaa uses a script to automate much of the Gentoo install and also some pre-defined desktop packages. It makes installation easier than Gentoo. The XGL liveCD is based off of Kororaa and created by one of the devs, but is not the Kororaa distribution.

There is also Jackass! linux, based off of Gentoo, which uses a more updated toolchain. It's a small project so I don't know if you would want to add it (http://jackass.homelinux.org).

Which is it, almost all or all the mainstream of almost all the mainstream?

At any rate its a fairly decent representation of current mainstream distro's; but the full gamut of specialised linux distros (both current and historical) defies a simple map like this. And of course linux (the kernel, not the whole kaGNUdle) belongs to a much larger family: http://www.levenez.com/unix/

Incidentally, this map I linked to could also be used to map the rise, splitoffs and falls of the various distro's over the years. Better than this mindmap model I think.

"—nUbuntu is not a distro anymore. Canonical asked them to terminate it's distro, because it could affect their reputation. Read about it at: http://digg.com/linux_unix/Canonical_has_asked_for_nUbuntu_to_Cease_Develop"

Dude, that was an April Fools Day joke.

From nubuntu.com:

"As Proof Ill! Ok So it was a Joke :-)Okay, firstly to anyone who I may have upset :-) I am sorry and to those who had a laugh, fell for it, and downloaded it before it was "removed". Thank you to those who dugg our story and helped it make the frontpage. For those who would like to see here is a screenshot of digg.com. How about a screenshot of our lovely pink site.

And of course, I would like to thank those who emailed and wanted to help support nUbuntu through this terrible time :-). I have uploaded those who have emailed me, and anymore that come in, I shall share with the world. They are here for you all to read. Also as proof ill is an anagram of april fools :-)

Thanks for all being good sports and playing along ;-) but for the sakes of tradition of April 1st...

Great idea, but as has been pointed out, there's a few things that are a little bit topsy turvy.

- Red Hat came first, fedora clearly came from Red Hat. - Mandrake+Suse came from Red Hat - Arch Linux is inspired by many, but based on no other distro. It ought to be in a category of it's own. There is no LFS in the foundations of Arch Linux. - Frugalware is slackware + pacman.

Linspire may have evolved such that they're no longer reliant on Debian, or have users familiar with apt-get / dpkgs, but I'm pretty sure a) the relation once existed and b) it still uses much of the same technology under the hood, ie dpkg etc. Linspire is currently considering some techniques for selling software to Ubuntu users, like mp3 players and other non-free (in the most common sense) packages, so I think for all the glue and eyecandy placed on top of it, Linspire is still Debian derived.

So I think a mind-mapping of distros should likely involve this link. Of course, many of the distros cant be represented as a simple tree; someone suggested that SuSe was slackware plus RPM added in later.

Gosh! I'm so embarrassed! How could I be tricked on April's fools news (about the nUbuntu). Thanks for everyone who pointed this out for me.BTW, that's the first time I get tricked on something like this. Damn you Digg. :-D